Builds Spyduh's Crawler80 Build (1 Viewer)

[baldilocks]

I collaborated with Joey at Wits-End to come up with these sway bar clamps. He sells them on his site. The shock mount protector was being sold by a mud member who isn’t really a vender two or three years ago. Would be simple to make. Yes, do reinforce the rear link brackets. One of mine is collapsed a bit.

 

[spyduh]

Just threw down $$$ for 5 Kanati Mud Hogs 39 x 12.5 x 17. Delivered to my door Feb 17. Going to be some work cutting fenders. Who wants to help? Lol

Price was right. Way cheaper than the pro comp 37s.
Also way cheaper than the 38 Milestar Patagonia. Went with Broski's recomendation. His pics on his build thread look good.

 

[bwakeling]

plasma cutter will be your friend if you have one. way better than the grinder.

 

[bob82pigdog]

KOH sure looks fun!

How does the steering feel after the plates were welded in? With the plates installed, the steering box now sits outside the frame further by the distance of the plate. The shaft going from the steering wheel to the box now sits at an angle compared to stock, but I am assuming the u-joint can deal with it. Have you noticed any difference in steering feel, binding etc.?

How is the alignment of your steering wheel now? I would imagine that moving the box outward of the frame a bit would change the relationship of the steering wheel, to pitman arm, to drag link, to tires? I'm inclined to believe this is no big deal, thinking you can adjust out any misalignment in the drag link at the time of an alignment, but I'm also inclined to overthinking!

Also, did you upgrade to the 105 series sector shaft on the steering box? Or do you figure with the hydro assist, the stock 80 sector shaft will be just fine? My thinking is that if you have hydro assist, it takes a little bit of the stress off the sector shaft and that the stock one would be fine. I would like to do hydro assist in the future, but I am not sure if hydro assist + the beefier 105 series shaft would just be unnecessary overkill. I am not opposed to spending money where it counts, but I prefer to not overspend if I can help it!

 

[spyduh]

KOH sure looks fun!

How does the steering feel after the plates were welded in? With the plates installed, the steering box now sits outside the frame further by the distance of the plate. The shaft going from the steering wheel to the box now sits at an angle compared to stock, but I am assuming the u-joint can deal with it. Have you noticed any difference in steering feel, binding etc.?

How is the alignment of your steering wheel now? I would imagine that moving the box outward of the frame a bit would change the relationship of the steering wheel, to pitman arm, to drag link, to tires? I'm inclined to believe this is no big deal, thinking you can adjust out any misalignment in the drag link at the time of an alignment, but I'm also inclined to overthinking!

Also, did you upgrade to the 105 series sector shaft on the steering box? Or do you figure with the hydro assist, the stock 80 sector shaft will be just fine? My thinking is that if you have hydro assist, it takes a little bit of the stress off the sector shaft and that the stock one would be fine. I would like to do hydro assist in the future, but I am not sure if hydro assist + the beefier 105 series shaft would just be unnecessary overkill. I am not opposed to spending money where it counts, but I prefer to not overspend if I can help it!

No change. At least not enough to notice. Just like any plate setup.

Zero idea if it has a 105 shaft. I bought a used 80 series already tapped redhead ps box off a random guy online that said it was barely used and off a buggy.

I'm guessing 80 series shaft. Don't even know what markings a 105 has.

 

[baldilocks]

The 105 sector shaft will not be necked down just above the splines and measures right at 35mm diameter in that location.

 

[spyduh]

not sure if I can tell installed. Will look later

 

[GW Nugget]

Wow, you work fast... The best price I've seen for the 39" Mud Hogs has been $271. Where did you find yours & how much?
As far as all your rubbing & rock rash that is all in the normal spots. eimkieth has a good set of weld on rear lower control arm rash protectors.
I really like the Wits End rear swaybar lower aluminum brackets Baldilocks has, he really put the hammer to them on the Dusy Ershim Trail.
And as for fitting those 39s Broski basically wrote the text book on that. When I go 39s It wont be as clean as his totally reconstructive surgery which & admire greatly. Who can compete with the guy who built the boats in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

[mudgudgeon]

You could always cut the rockers and weld sliders into that location for increased ground clearance.

I did this on my 105 series. Sliders welded into the rocker. 100% tied into the body, no connection to the frame

If done well it can be bomb proof.

Mine gained a good 4" or more at the bottom of the rocker.
I had the top of the slider tube set up about 1/4" below the bottom of the door

 

[Broski]

UNIVERSAL ANTIROCK® KIT - 50" X 1" THICK BAR W/ 21" STEEL ARMS My next project is to add this sway bar to the rear​

Part 2
Rear sway ripped




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[spyduh]

Wow, you work fast... The best price I've seen for the 39" Mud Hogs has been $271. Where did you find yours & how much?
As far as all your rubbing & rock rash that is all in the normal spots. eimkieth has a good set of weld on rear lower control arm rash protectors.
I really like the Wits End rear swaybar lower aluminum brackets Baldilocks has, he really put the hammer to them on the Dusy Ershim Trail.
And as for fitting those 39s Broski basically wrote the text book on that. When I go 39s It wont be as clean as his totally reconstructive surgery which & admire greatly. Who can compete with the guy who built the boats in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.

$272.xx walmart 3rd party. They are super hard to find right now cause they are backordered. 1362 to my door.

I bought 1/4 plate. Will fab my own link skids.

Mine won't nearly be as clean as Broskis either. But I'll do the best I can. I've spliced sheet metal on my last rock crawler and that was a lot of work.

 

[spyduh]

Broski antirock

Now that be interesting to see.

 

[Broski]

plasma cutter will be your friend if you have one. way better than the grinder.

If you are going to use the Plasma Cutter to trim the wheels wells Please have a FIRE EXTINGUISHER on hand as you will most likely catch the truck on fire, the undercoating in the wheel well is very flammable.
I also prefer not burning up the the paint inside and out. The ultra thin cut off wheel in a 4" cordless grinder is the preferred method for me.

 

[spyduh]

I did this on my 105 series. Sliders welded into the rocker. 100% tied into the body, no connection to the frame

If done well it can be bomb proof.

Mine gained a good 4" or more at the bottom of the rocker.
I had the top of the slider tube set up about 1/4" below the bottom of the door

Wow thats crazy not welded to the frame. Got pics of attachment?

 

[spyduh]

If you are going to use the Plasma Cutter to trim the wheels wells Please have a FIRE EXTINGUISHER on hand as you will most likely catch the truck on fire, the undercoating in the wheel well is very flammable.
I also prefer not burning up the the paint inside and out. The ultra thin cut off wheel in a 4" cordless grinder is the preferred method for me.

Yea I'm. NOT Bgoing to plasma the paint. Lol
Plasma is good for cutting metal I intend fab pieces or reinstall onto the frame.

For fine work I use cutoff and flap discs to get the right shape.

 

[Broski]

Wow thats crazy not welded to the frame. Got pics of attachment?

It's how I did mine as well.

 

[Redgrrr]

When I did my body mounted sliders I left weep holes on that inside edge so when water does get in there it can get out.

 

[Broski]

When I did my body mounted sliders I left weep holes on that inside edge so when water does get in there it can get out.

That a really good idea that i missed, I can still drill some in but so far it has not been a problem, it 's parked in a shop and a trail Reg and IH8mud so it never see's rain

 

[Redgrrr]

I wouldn’t worry about it where you all live but mine sits outside in the snow/rain and it had weep holes from the factory if I remember that long ago correctly...mine got stitch welded in for 8-12” with about 3/4” left unwelded in between and bent out with a 1/2 cold chisel. Your inner fender patch work is top notch @Broski. Seriously...

That a really good idea that i missed, I can still drill some in but so far it has not been a problem, it 's parked in a shop and a trail Reg and IH8mud so it never see's rain

 

[mudgudgeon]

Wow thats crazy not welded to the frame. Got pics of attachment?

No pics unfortunately. I lost a bunch of pics to photo bucket and a dead PC.

In did similar to @jcardona1 but I used 2 pieces of 3x3" hollow section, cut the face out of the rockers, unstitched the door thresholds and stitch welded the 3x3 in place, I kept the structure of the body in place on the backside of the rockers, and welded the hollow section there too.
There is a fair bit of structure in the rockers and where the pillars connect to them. I kept as much of that in place as possible, and welded everywhere I could before welding door thresholds back in.
In used 2 pieces of 3x3 because it gave me a double thickness where they butted together in the centre, so more vertical structure under the pillars.
I cut and welded the outer piece of 3x3 to taper the bottom edge


Mine copped some decent hits from slipping a wheel of a rock, and having the body drop onto a rock hard. I dented the underside of these, but had no sign of damage to the body or mounts etc

I reduced the depth of the seam under the rockers quite a bit, plus eliminated having sliders below the rocker, and had less connected to the frame to get hung up on. I tapered the outer bottom edge up to increase clearance more, and added the as a step.

I spent a day fabbing the SHS, and a full weekend cutting and welding on the body
I wasn't 100% sure how it was going to go until I hacked into it, once I got into it, it came together well.

I did this on mine when it was still looking quite presentable. Buddies spun out at me cutting into a tidy 105 series.